Scientists install new listening array on floor of Strait of Georgia

Tom Dakin, a researcher with the University of Victoria’s Ocean Networks Canada, said the station is comprised of an array of hydrophones — “microphones that work under water” — that monitors undersea ambient noise, as well as sounds from shipping and marine life such as orcas and humpback whales.

“We can monitor soundwaves coming in and tell which direction they are coming from — the exact direction of the ship or whale that made the noise,” he said in an on-board interview.

The $500,000-per-year initiative also involves Transport Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Jasco Applied Sciences working aboard the John P. Tully, a 69-metre-long Canadian Coast Guard research ship.